Plaiting machine



July l5, 1'930. E, L EZBELENT 1,770,590

PLAITING MACHINE Filed Aug. s1. 1925 e sheets-sheet 2 IN VEN mg 7 X0. f

July l5, 1930. E. L.. EZBELENT PLAITING MACHINE Filed Aug. 31, 1925 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Aug. 31, 1925 6 Sheets-Shed*I 4 1111)15 1930. E. l.. EZBELENT 1,770,590

PLAITING MACHINE Filed Aug. 3l, 192.5 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 July 15, 1930. E. L. EZBELENT PLAITING MACHINE' Filed Aug. 31. 1925 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 so that I may reverse the fold or plait at any chosen point, lengthwise of the said folds of the work.

In case all the plaiting blade elements of each set are secured in one and the same plane to the shaft 13 by the screws 18, the plaited work obtained will be analogous to the work produced upon the current type of machines,

1. e. according to the upper or the lower posit-ion of the operating means 12, I may produce the same plait, either an overlapping knife plait, or an underlapping knife plait, or box plaits, throughout the whole length of the lait, len thwise of the fold.

T e upper rame 1 is notched at 19 to provide for the ascent of the said plaiting blade elements. The spring urges each upper plaiting bladeelement downward and causes the saine to enter into contact with a lower 2o plaitng blade element. In this manner each ulpper element will cause the opposite lower e ementto descend when the latter is not controlled, and when the said lower element is Controlled, it will in turn cause the upper clement to rise.

During the rearward stroke` of the frames 1 and 2, 1n order to allow the fabric to be fed through the cylinders, it is necessary that the blade elements 1'4 and 14 become opened. It l0 has already been stated above that the upper frame 1 and the blades 3 are raised during the rearward stroke by means of the C-shaped member 7. During the rotation of the upper frame 1 upon the journals 5 said frame will abut (through the medium of the screw 21) against the rear projection of the upper pivoted blade 16, thereby rotating and raising the latter and thus opening the sets of pivoted plaiting blade elements 14 and 14.

For Vthe obtainlneiit of patterns of chevron orther forms, as shown by way of example in` Fig. 7, the whole arrangement of blades and blade carriers may be longitudinally displaced With an alternating motion.

I may produce the said displacement as follows:

To the end of the control shaft 22 is keyed a suitably shaped cam whereof the bosses will lower the roller 24 carried by a lever 25 and will hence pivot the said lever, thus producin a lengthwise reciprocating motion of the J aiting blade elements together with their carriers. This will displace the patterns" lengthwise of the folds, and the amount of the displacement will vary according to the outline given to the cam 23.

By rendering the said cam loose on its shaft, the reciprocating motion will cease, and Ilobtain a class of straight line patterns analogous to what are shown in Figs. 5 and 6.

"Obviously, the number and'length of the fixed blades 3 and 3 and the plaiting blade elements 14, 14` may be chosen as desired.

The modifications of the machine accord- 65` ing toh the invention respectively illustrated in Figs. 8 and 9 and in Figs. 10 and 11 ofl'er the material advantage that it is possible therewith to modify the nature of the folds made by each blade element, during the course of the work and without stopping the machine.

For this purpose, and as shown in Figs. 8 and 9, while the upper blade carriers are rotatably mounted on the shaft 17, as in Figs. 1 and 2, the lower blade elements 14 are secured to the respective blade carriers 26, mounted loose on the shaft 13 supported by the frame 2. Each blade carrier 26 is provided with a pivot joint 28 to which is attached the rod 29 which is controlled by the link o0 which is rotatable on the shaft 31 supported by the frame 2 and extending all over the same.

A set of levers 32, respectively corresponding to the various links 30, are pivoted upon a rod 33, each of said levers carrying two rollers 34 and 35. A drum 36 having the same length as the machine, is provided with circular rows of holes respectively situated in the vert-ical planes containing the rollers 34, whereby removable cam elements or bosses 37 may be secured to said drum according to needs; the drum may be given an intermittent rotary motion., for instance by a ratchet device, so that it is rotated through half the angular space between two consecutive holes of one row at the end of the forward and rearward strokes of the lower frame, each hole, or the cam element engaged therein, being in line with the roller 34 of the corresponding arm 32 during the forward stroke of said lower frame. y

vl/'hen the blade elements are at the end of the forward strokeY (Fig. 8) the levers 32 occupy the position shown in the said figure. The drum 36 has rotated in such manner that cach. roller 34 is situated between two bosses 37, or between two consecutive apertures of the drum. The rollers 35 are in the lower position and have no action upon the levers 30, this condition prevailing during the whole rearward mot-ion of the blade elements.

Then the said blade elements have attained the end of the rearward stroke (Fig. 9) the drum 36 is rotated through ay certain angle; if a boss 37 comes under a roller 34, the same will be raised, as also the correspending roller 35 together with the lever 30, so that the pivot 28 will be lowered and the blade element thus controlled will be raised to its upper posit-ion. The said blade element will produce an overlapping knife plait. But if there is no boss below the roller 34, the corresponding blade element will remain in its lower position and will produce an underlapping knife plait. At the end of the forward stroke` the drum 36 will be rotated through a certain angle, and the cycle of operations thus continues.

It will be' thus observed that a given boss 3 7, secured'by means of its shank in an aperture in the drum 36, will cause the corresponding blade element to produce 'an overlapping knife plait, whilstin the absence of said boss the same blade element will produce an underlapping knife plait.

`In this manner, it will be understood that if the bosses 37 are distributed according to a certain disposition upon the drum, a corresponding pattern or design composed of overlapping plaits and underlapping plaits will be automatically produced on the plaited work by the said blade elements. Y y

The bosses37 may be readily secured to the drum 36 and may be disposed thereon ac-Y cording to a great variety of patterns. It is A to be observed that the use of narrower blade elements will further increase the diversity of thev combinations in the patterns or designs which may be produced.

In the modification shown in Figs.v 10 and 11 the lower blade elements 14 may be raised at will by means of the following device:

For the shafts 17 and 13 of the preceding figures are substituted two tubes 41'and 43, connected together at their ends by two end plates 4 similar to that shown in Figs. 1 and 2; the rotation of the upper tube 41,v for opening the blades, iscontrolled by a C device, not shown and similar to member 7 (Figs. 1 and 2) while the motion of the lower tube 43 is controlle'dby known controlling means, not shown, similar to that shown at 12 (Figs. 1 and 2).

The lower blade elements 14 aresupported by blade carriers 42, rotatable 0n thetube 43 and which are each provided with a` .pin or stud 46 extending and adapted to slide through the same; said stud is urged outwardly by a spring 47, kand when the latter is compressed, the stud may engage in a corresponding aperture 48 in the tube 43. When the stud is in the position shown in Fig. 10, the corresponding blade element will be loose on the tube. The corresponding upper-blade Carrier 40, which is urged into its lower position by the spring 20, will oblige the lower blade element toassume its lower position, thus providing for the formation of an underlapping plait.

The insertion of the studs 46 into the tube ments or bosses 37 disposed in circular rows upon a rotary drum 36 similar to that shown lin Figs. 8 and 9 and to which a continuous may control the inward motion of the cor` or intermittent motion may be imparted; each row of cam elements correspondsto one pin or stud 46, and the cam elements of one row responding pin 46 through the medium of a rocking Varm 32 mounted looseon a common shaft 33 and provided with a roller 34 situated in the same plane as thecam elements 37.

overlapping 'Vplaits or underlapping plaits. 1 there are no bossesengaging the roller 34, the corresponding blade element, will produce an'underlapping plait. Y

Figf11,` shows blade carriers 42y which lare A*Connectedby their studs Vwith the tube 43 and ,thus are in a position corresponding to the'V formation of overlapping plaits, and other bladecarriers .42b which are loose Ion the tube 43'and are in aposition correspond-y ing tothe formation of underlapping plait-s. It will be observed also that upon the whole length of the tubey 41 is a groove 44 in which engage stop screws 45j respectivelyk carried -by thebladef carriers 40. When the yC device rotatesltheI tuber 41, the latter will drive at a certain moment, the screws 45 of all the blade elements, so that the latter will be opened. The said groove 44 has sufficient width so that when the C device is inoperative, the blade elements may assume the upper or the lower position. e i

Obviously, in the machines illustrated in Figs. 8 to 1,1, I may substitute for the drum with removable bosses, a band, for instance of cardboard, which is either perforated or is provided with removable bosses,l and which is movable below the control levers,

`thus serving the same purpose as the above ldescribed drum.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a plaiting machine an upper and a lower longitudinal frame, on each of said frames a plurality of plaiting blade elements and means whereby said frames may be displaced together longitudinally with respect to the cylinders of the machine.

2. A plaiting machine of the character described, comprising in combination a pair of pressing rollers and at least one reciprocating plaiting knife blade having an edge which coacts with the pressing'rollers, some portions of said edge being displaced relative to other portions thereof whereby some portions of each plait are formed in a reverse direction to the other portions.

3. ,A plaiting machine of the character described, comprising in combination a pair of pressing rollers, a pair of plaiting knife blades having their edges divided, means for displacing someportions of said divided edges of the knife blades relative to other poreo' i ioe tions', said plaiting knife blades being recipjocable to and from the said pressin rollers whereby seme portions of each p` ait are formed in a reverse direction to the other porti fs.

Kplaiting machine of the character described, comprising in combination apair of liting rollers, apair of reciprocating plait'- m `knives having their forward edges divi ed into lingers, means for selectively displacing some of said iinvers upwardly and y others downwardly wheretby alon the length of each lait some portions are ormed in a reverse irection to other portions 5. A plaiting machine of the character described, comprising in combination a air of plaiting rollers, divided plaiting bla es disposed between said rollers at one side thereof, said blades having the forward edges of some of the divided parts displaced relative to the other arts whereby some parts of each plait are fo `ded upwardly and others downnwmdly. f Intest-irnony whereof I have signed my naine to this specification.

EUGENE LOUIS EZBELENT. 

